China AIDS Activist Gets One-Year Prison Sentence

From CDC National Prevention Information Network

February 17, 2011

A Chinese AIDS activist on Feb. 11 received a one-year prison sentence for intentionally damaging property, handed down by the Xincai County People's Court in Henan province. The conviction of Tian Xi stemmed from an altercation he had at a hospital responsible for infecting him with HIV during a childhood transfusion. Tian lost his temper and smashed office equipment after a hospital administrator told him there was nothing he could do about his case and walked out of the room, said Tian's father. Tian has for years advocated for compensation, including for others similarly infected. Tian is being held in an unheated cell at the Shangcai County Detention Center with about a half-dozen other inmates with HIV/AIDS, said Liang Xiaojun, Tian's lawyer. Tian plans to appeal the sentence.

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